The architect who became the king of bank robberies
8 hours ago
- #bank robbery
- #Gilded Age
- #historical crime
- George Leonidas Leslie was an architect by day and one of the most prolific bank robbers in U.S. history during the late 1800s, with his methods accounting for an estimated 80% of bank robberies from 1869 to 1878.
- Unlike typical robbers, Leslie used an academic approach, studying locks, creating blueprints, and inventing tools like the 'little joker' to crack vaults silently, which he demonstrated in his first heist at Ocean National Bank in 1869, stealing $768,879.74.
- He socialized with Gilded Age elites like Cornelius Vanderbilt and corrupt figures such as Jim Fisk and Jay Gould, while collaborating with criminals like fence Marm Mandelbaum to plan robberies across the East Coast, amassing over $7 million (around $200 million today).
- Leslie orchestrated what remains the largest bank heist in U.S. history by inflation-adjusted value at the Manhattan Savings Institution in 1878, netting $2.7 million (~$81 million today), but he was murdered months before it occurred, with suspicions pointing to a fellow gang member.